GALVESTON – Three local attorneys have filed a lawsuit against the Board of Pilot Commissioners for Galveston County Ports on behalf of the Florida-Caribbean Cruise Association, Carnival Corporation, Royal Caribbean Cruises, Ltd., the Board of Trustees of the Galveston Wharves, and the Galveston Port Facilities Corporation in an effort to have the Pilots’ order of pilotage rate change overturned, according to recent Galveston County District Court records.
In court papers filed Oct. 3 in the Galveston County 405th District Court, Timothy W. Strickland and Stacy Norstrud of the law firm Fowler Rodriguez in Houston, who are representing the F-CCA and the cruise lines, and Anthony P. Brown of the law firm Mcleod, Alexander, Powel & Apffel, P.C. in Galveston, who serves as the Galveston Wharves Board’s and GPFC’s counsel, explain that the Pilots submitted an application seeking a substantial increase in the pilotage rates for the ports of Galveston County last July.
The complainants objected to the rate change on grounds their rights were negatively affected by the Pilots’ apparent violation of statutory and constitutional provisions. The Pilots subsequently approved the application at a meeting at the offices of the Port of Texas City/Texas City Terminal Railway Company on Aug. 31 despite the plaintiffs’ claims the former failed to provide statutorily required financial data nor demonstrate a need for a rate increase, as well as issued the order to raise the pilotage rates at the start of last month.
“The Board’s actions were arbitrary, capricious, and constitute an abuse of discretion,” the original petition says.
“The Board disregarded and failed to follow the requirements of the Texas Transportation Code when it approved a substantial rate increase without sufficient supporting evidence.”
Court documents further show that the defendants deprived the complainants due process, stating the latter was “not given reasonable notice and a meaningful opportunity to be heard.”
A temporary restraining order requested by the plaintiffs was granted by a visiting judge.
Galveston County 405th District Court Case No. 16-CV-1169